The Walkmen have been a band for 14 years, and apparently, that might be the point in which they call it quits as a band, but it's not an official breakup. Peter Bauer told The Washington Post, "We have no future plans whatsoever. I'd call it a pretty extreme hiatus."
Assuming this really is the end for a while, or forever, the final two shows will be tomorrow, Nov. 30, at Union Market in Washington, DC and Dec. 4 at Philadelphia's Union Transfer. When asked if this really is the end for the band, Bauer explained where they are coming from:
"We really just have no idea. I don't think any of us wanted to write another Walkmen record. Maybe that will change down the line, maybe it won't, maybe we'll play shows. I think it's weird to make a hubbub about something if there's nothing to really make a hubbub about. At the same time, I don't think we've been a gang properly for a long time, so there's not much to break up, I guess."
This doesn't mean that the members of the band are done with music. There are solo projects in the works. Frontman Hamilton Leithauser has an LP featuring members from Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes and the Shins, which will be out in 2014. Walter Martin is also working on a solo project, and Bauer (under the name Peter Matthew Bauer) will release his LP Liberation!.
"When we play shows it's a really fun time seeing old friends," Bauer said about the band's life over the years. "It's not the archetypal rock band where everyone lives in an apartment. We all live in different cities and we call each other occasionally. It's like going to Thanksgiving."
